Hello, Candy Girls!

Last week, I celebrated my fourth anniversary as an official part of the Candy Team. And while being your Assistant Lifestyle Editor is not always easy-peasy (sometimes, I have to do some actual tough work, like when I have to stare at my computer screen for hours to decide which photo of Logan Lerman’s bangs to publish), I know that churning out ideas and stories about your favorite celebrities, movies, TV shows, and hangouts is something I will never get tired of. Unless you get tired of me first.

So to celebrate my workiversary—yep, I totally just made up a cool new word—I present to you a list of all the things I love about writing, researching, brainstorming, conceptualizing, interviewing, and writing some more for you girls.

1. I love doing food shoots. I love how you can make art out of something so basic, and how it presents so many different possibilities. I love meeting restaurant owners and chefs and seeing how much passion they have for their job. I love how everyone loves food, and how it’s impossible to go back to the office after a food shoot without a smile on my face. Okay, I kinda lied. I love food shoots for the very obvious reason that I get to stuff my face. For free. Today, for example, I had waffles, a chocolate shake, four kinds of pasta, a burger, and fries in a span of three hours. So yeah, let’s move on so I can try to redeem myself.

2. I love doing Candy Cuties shoots. Maybe this isn’t exactly redeeming myself because Candy Cuties shoots aren’t exactly a noble sacrifice, either. But let me clarify that Candy Cuties shoots are a distant second to food shoots. Very distant. I’ve got my priorities straight. Speaking of Candy Cuties, you have until the end of this week to send me your nominations at certifiedcandycutiesATgmailDOTcom. And just a friendly reminder: there’s NO need to nominate someone more than once!

3. I love discovering new music, talented actors and actresses on the rise, and hip new restaurants—and sharing each and every one of them with you. I also like pretending that I “discovered” them first, which isn’t usually a success, because of course you girls are way cooler than me most of the time, and have already discovered the stuff I was pretending to have discovered.

I realized just now that I am neither redeeming myself nor making much sense. So I am stopping at #3, while my dignity is still semi-intact. I’d like to delete this blog entry, but I spent a good 20 minutes writing this (and time is gold—there are shirtless photos of Damon and Stefan that I must attend to), so I figure I might as well just post it, even if I can’t promise it won’t give you a headache.

I can promise you this, though: next time, I’ll try to blog in the morning, when my brain is functioning properly. And to thank you for reading this entry (and congratulate you for making it all the way to the end—woohoo!), here’s an adorable shot of me and my friend with Po the Panda. I give you full permission to crop us out and just keep the cute ninja panda as your wallpaper or something.

Big sleepy hugs,
Marla
:penguin: